Looks Like Everybody Had A Good Weekend

Sometimes it’s fun to go to a party, and sometimes it’s nice to just curl up on the couch and watch a movie. The weekend is really what you make of it. Do you want to get interviewed by Larry King for his web series about how having a kid is going to be “tight”? It’s the weekend! Enjoy it! Do you want to make your own Donkey Sauce with Guy Fieri? Then put on some rubber gloves even though he isn’t wearing rubber gloves, how come you have to wear them but he doesn’t have to wear them, oh well, rules are rules, besides your hands are filthy from partying so it’s not a bad idea. It was the weekend! We were all doing different stuff, man.

I managed to have one of the best and one of the worst NYC dining experiences I’ve ever had in one weekend!

The worst: New York Beer Company

We went for brunch for the ladyblog’s brother’s birthday. It was somewhat early for brunch (11:30) so the place was pretty empty. For some reason it took the server 20 minutes to take our order. Then another 45 to get the food. There was literally 2 other tables in a giant restaurant. Then when the food came the french toast was burnt, the bacon was amazingly both burnt and raw, my “breakfast pizza” was a flatbread with some overcooked scrambled eggs, no cheese, and raw onions, even though I had asked for no onions. There was no apology for the delay and it wasn’t worth sending the food back because we didn’t have another 45 minutes to wait, plus the waiter disappeared for another 20 minutes. The beer selection is very good, but the food experience was so terrible I will never be going there again.

The best: Empellon Taqueria

My mom was in town to visit a friend of hers, so last night we all went out to dinner (me, ladyblog, mom, and friend). The ladyblog and I had been there before and it was delicious. This time was equally delicious. But what set it apart was the service. The difference between good and great service is when something goes wrong. There was some miscommunication with the kitchen, and they were out of two of the tacos we ordered. The waiter returned, very apologetic, and offered us whatever other tacos we wanted. Then the hostess came over with free tequila (a really good reposado), then they brought us a whole extra order of tacos. Then free dessert! Then we got the check and all of the tacos were comped! It was truly above and beyond. And that is why I will be dining there many times again and give it my strongest recommendation.

I finally finished the most awful book ever. I was going to just quit it altogether, but I hadn’t finished a book for adults in so long that I forced myself to finally end the damn thing. It was dreadful. (The Marriage Contract. Ugh.)

I also watched Homeland, which is pretty good for propaganda. Does anyone else get that feeling? That the show exists to sway probably left-leaning types to be more sympathetic to the CIA and the Patriot Act in general? I can get over the whole unstable CIA genius who is always crying or Brody’s weird mouth and that he’snot hot enough AT ALL for that character (though the actor is very good at acting minus the mouth thing)… but the propaganda / illegal spying / USA! jingoistic nationalism stuff stuff really irks me. A lot.

Sorry, I am sure there have been other Homeland posts before but this is a new show (to me) and I can’t get over the underlying message of “losing your civil liberties was in your best interests, liberal Showtime viewers.”

I watched Killing Them Softly, not as great as that Jesse James flick, but still pretty awesome. I liked that the political allegory, while obvious (organized crime is just like the regular economy, but in miniature) wasn’t too obnoxious to interfere with the movie’s plot.

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